In 2002 while working on ABC’s “Alias,” Abrams told Variety he felt like he “lucked into” working in TV.

 

“The hours are brutal, the pressure’s tremendous and the need for material is insatiable,” he said. “But it’s so exciting to work with the same group of people on a long-term basis, and you’re writing something you know is going to get shot. That just doesn’t exist in features.”

 

Unless, perhaps, the feature has Abrams’ name attached to it. Even before writing and directing “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” Abrams was thought of as the inheritor of the Steven Spielberg mantle thanks to 2011’s “Super 8.” Now he’s become a latter-day George Lucas, too, as an executive producer on Disney’s new “Star Wars” trilogy.

 

Abrams started in TV as co-creator of The WB’s “Felicity” and creator of “Alias,” where his devotion to mythological storytelling took root. He developed “Lost,” and his company, Bad Robot, had a hand in dozens of movies and TV shows, from “Person of Interest” to HBO’s dense, mystery-packed “Westworld.”

 

Abrams and Bad Robot are developing “Glare,” about humans colonizing another planet, for HBO. And Abrams is branching out into theater as co-producer on the Broadway transfer of the British hit “The Play That Goes Wrong.”